The 19 Best Halloween Events in Los Angeles, from Drive-Throughs to Haunted Houses

• Location: Anaheim and Lakewood
• Dates: Thursday through Saturday, October 3 to November 2

The Haunted Carwash has two locations this year, in Anaheim and Lakewood. It's worth the drive to either, in order to experience a haunted car wash in which ghouls tease, taunt and torment you even while you're in line to enter the soapy and scary drive-through. We don't recommend this one for the littles, in case it forever scars them from going through a car wash again, but for tweens and older, it's a fast and fun jump-scare experience that will leave you with great snaps for social media and a shinier vehicle, all starting from $34 per car.

• Location: Universal City
• Dates: Select nights, September 5 to November 3

The theme parks are back with a full lineup of Halloween events this year, and Universal Studios will have their Halloween Horror Nights on select nights starting from September 8 to October 31. In addition to the rides, there will be more than half a dozen haunted mazes with themes like Stranger Things and The Last of Us. The tram tour is also transformed into The Terror Tram complete with actors jumping at the tram to scare you.

• Location: Los Angeles
• Dates: Select nights, September 20 to November 2

One of LA’s favorite family Halloween attractions for more than a decade, the Haunted Hayride is back again at Griffith Park this year. There will be the iconic wagon hayride (of course), and guests can also walk around the fictional town of Midnight Falls for trick-or-treating and scare zones, tour the mortuary and more. Activations include a collab with Janelle Monae (blaring Monae Manor is one of the stops), an interactive spirit summoning at Madame Aurora's Seance Theatre and glue gun shooting at attacking zombies. It's pretty intense, so keep anyone under 12 at home.

• Location: Altadena
• Dates: October 4 through November 10

This immersive theater experience is hosted by the Downtown Repertory Theater Company who previously put on a similar immersive show called Witch! In this Halloween-themed event, guests will have one-on-one encounters with performers and explore a haunted mausoleum and abandoned chapel. Complimentary drinks will be offered before the show, and comfortable clothing and walking shoes are recommended (we’re serious about the exploring part).

• Location: Buena Park
• Dates: Select nights, September 19 to November 2

Knott’s Berry Farm’s annual Halloween experience, the aptly named Knott’s Scary Farm, is known to be one of the amusement parks that goes all out for Halloween and it is returning now for its 49th year. This Halloween season, there will be 17 different spooky experiences including nine haunted mazes and an improvisational puppet show. Of course, there will be more scare zones throughout the park and the rides will be running for a different kind of thrill.

• Location: Beverly Center
• Dates: October 4 through 31

Imagine immersive macabre dinner theater, and you've halfway got the idea of Haunted Hollywood, a two-hour adults only experience in which the performance heroine—the "final girl" as horror fans like to call her—and the audience journey through eight rooms where everyone encounters iconic horror tropes including Alien, Beetlejuice, the Exorcist, Leatherface, the Nun and Psycho. Oh, and there's light bites and drinks, since you're in the Vault Speakeasy.

• Location: Calabasas
• Dates: Select dates, September 27 to November 2

Stroll through the King Gillette Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains hideaway at this event that's appropriate for all ages. There are thousands of hand-carved jack-o’-lanterns arranged in various themes, from local sites (like the Hollywood sign) to classic Fright Night displays (like a cemetery). We recommend having your kid put on their costume before you go, so you’ll have some great pics for the family album (and look like you actually made an effort this Halloween, even if the night itself turns out to be a bust).

• Location: La Canada Flintridge
• Dates: October 4 to 30

For one of the less spooky Halloween activities in Los Angeles on our list, Descanso Gardens will be lit up with hundreds of jack-o’-lanterns this fright night season. In addition to the mile-long trail of glowing pumpkins and the opportunity to enjoy the garden itself at night, there will be Halloween-themed sculptures, parking carving demonstrations, a hay maze and harvest-themed food and drink offerings.

• Location: Knott's Berry Farm
• Dates: Thursday through Sunday, September 26 through October 31 and Columbus Day

A daytime and tot-friendly version of Knott's Scary Farm, this has parents and their children exploring the park set up as the town of Calico, with trick-or-treating, spider and bug meet-ups and visits from Peanuts cartoon characters.

• Location: Koreatown
• Dates: October 11 to October 31

Black Lagoon is a cocktail pop-up for horror lovers created by two well-known bartenders, Erin Hayes from Los Angeles and Kelsey Ramage from Toronto, with themed cocktails in custom glassware. The two first did their pop-up at Tales of the Cocktail and it was so popular they decided to bring it to nine cities this October. In Los Angeles, Black Lagoon will be popping up at the Normandie Club, inside The Hotel Normandie, which will have its circa 1926 architecture decked out in spookiness.

14. Vampirates

• Location: Buena Park
• Dates: Select nights, September 13 to November 10

Pirates Dinner Adventures has been entertaining folks in Buena Park for a while now, but did you know that for Halloween they do a special show called Vampirates? The family-friendly ghoulish pirate show includes a three-course dinner starting from $69 per adult and $42 for children. They’ll also have face painting and costume contests.

• Location: Los Angeles
• Dates: Select nights, October 4 to November 2

What makes a Halloween haunted house experience even better? Some cocktails, of course. At House of Spirits, guests can sip on drinks while exploring a haunted, abandoned theatre. Just enjoy the ambiance if you’re skittish, or venture deeper and interact with the actors and props if you’re adventurous. Four miniature cocktails are included with a standard ticket, but you can upgrade your ticket for more, and additional food and drinks will be available for purchase.

• Location: Hollywood Forever Cemetery
• Date: Saturday, October 26

This is a scene—for 25 years, people have been constructing altars commemorating their departed loved ones, in honor of the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertes, the Day of the Dead. The ticketed event starts at 10 a.m. and goes until midnight, including a children's plaza, altars, folkorico dance, cultural performers, food vendors, arts and crafts and more. Angelenos come decked out in elaborate costumes, spanning from Mesoamerican heritage to Tim Burtonesque steampunk, for a wild and creative community event.

17. Haunted Hollywood Walking Tour with ExperienceFirst

• Location: Hollywood
• Dates: offered year-round

This walking tour with ExperienceFirst dives into the darker side of Hollywood that true crime lovers would love. The tour will take you through some of Hollywood’s most notorious historic sites as your guide regales you with creepy tales. The tour starts at 6 p.m. and takes two hours.

• Location: Arts District, Downtown LA, El Segundo
• Dates: Every day in October

Rooftop Cinema Club is bringing Angelenos all kinds of Halloween films this October, from kid-friendly Halloween movies to horror flicks both classics and modern. Between their three locations throughout the city, there are multiple showings every day throughout the month. Make it a dinner date—Rooftop Cinema Club allows guests to bring their own food from outside, although drinks must be purchased on-site. Since temperatures can drop in the evening, we also recommend bringing your own blanket.

• Location: Downtown L.A.
• Dates: October 31

The Walt Disney Concert Hall holds a showing of a horror film classic accompanied by organ on Halloween night and this year they’re showing the 1922 silent film version of Nosferatu. The film will be accompanied live-to-picture by the concert hall’s monster pipe organ, played by Clark Wilson, one of the most prominent organ virtuosos and conservators. The concert starts at 8 p.m., so there’s time to grab an early pre-show dinner.